Troughing roller assemblies



June 15, 1965 T. R. DAVIS TROUGHING ROLLER ASSEMBLIES Filed Dec. 2'7, 1961 INVENTOR.

BY Ker/w [k/fe/ fizformys.

'IIIIIIlIllI (llIllIIllIlIll United States Patent 3,189,167 TROUGHING ROLLER ASSEMBLKES Thomas R. Davis, McHenry, Ill., assignor to Goodman Manufacturing Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of iliinois Filed Dec. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 162,422 6 Claims. (Cl. 198-492) Another object is a separable troughing idler assembly which can be easily assembled and dismantled.

Another object is a separable troughing idler assembly wherein separation is resisted by internal means within the crosspiece and by external means on the crosspiece.

Another object is a separable troughing idler assembly wherein both the internal and external means for resisting separation may be modified and adjusted.

Another object is a separable troughing idler assembly wherein the crosspiece consists of separable parts biased towards each other by internal means.

Another object is a separable troughing idler assembly wherein the crosspiece consisting of separable parts may have external flanges at the matchingportions to provide further resistance against separation.

The foregoing objects and other objects which will be apparent from time to time are now attained by the invention which will be described in detail and which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the separable troughing idler assembly,

FIGURE 2 is a partial cross section ofthe crosspiece showing the separable portion in detail,

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the crosspiece showing the separable portion, 7

FIGURE 4 is a partial cross section taken along lines 4-4 of FIGURE 1, and

FIGURE 5 is a cross section similar to FIGURE 4 showing a modified flange around the crosspiece.

A troughing idler assembly is shown in FIGURE 1. In a conventional .wire rope sidefrarne conveyor, such assemblies are suspended between a pair of generally parallel wire ropes, and the ropes, in turn, are supported by upright standards. The conveyor system has return idler rollers positioned below the troughing idler assemblies and an endless conveyor belt rides on the troughing idler assembly and the return rollers. The upright standards, the return roller, the endless conveying belt and other elements in the flexible side wire rope frame conveyor are not shown because they do not comprise an essential portion of this invention.

The external elements of the troughing idler assembly are seen in FIGURE 1 wherein a crosspiece 10 is shown as a cylinder or tube which extends to-elongated connectors 16 which, in turn, engage the wire ropes 11 of the conveyor. The ends of the crosspiece 10 are secured I to upright supporting arms or brackets 12 which in turn are securely fixed to the elongated connectors 16. The outer ends of a pair of wing rollers 15, 15 are received in the upper slots of brackets 12. The inner ends of the Wing rollers are received in shorter brackets 14, 14 which in turn are secured to crosspiece 10. A center roller 2 .is also shown as having its outer ends seated in slots of brackets 13, 13, and such brackets are also secured to the crosspiece.

The elongated connectors 16 which engage the wire ropes have a curved portion 17 which forms a seat to receive the rope, and a clamp 18 forces the ropes into engagement with the seat. The pressing force comes from a clamp screw 19 which presses a portion of the clamp against the underside of the rope. The crosspiece 10 comprises a part 9 which can be completely separated from its opposed part 8. Intermediate the ends of the crosspiece are opposed and matched flanges 21 and 22. These flanges serve as external means to resist separation of the component parts of the crosspiece, as will be described later in greater detail.

The crosspiece also has internal means to resist separation as is shown in detail in FIGURE 2. The parts 8 and 9 of the crosspiece are joined and biased to each other by internal tension means such as the coil spring 7. This coil spring may have different tensions imposed on it by varying its length within the crosspiece. The length of the spring 7 is varied by engaging the terminating hooked portion 6 and 6a of the spring with anchoring means such as transverse bolts 5. In this instance, the further the spring 7 is stretched, the greater will be the tension imposed thereon and, accordingly, the greater will be the resistance to separating the parts 8 and 9 of the crosspiece. The'bolts 5 may be reached from the outside of the crosspiece as shown in FIGURES 1, 4 and 5. Such external placement permits the operator to remove the nut 4 and disengage the bolt 5 from the crosspiece. This will release the tension of the coil spring 7 and thereafter part 8 may be completely separated from part 9 by removing the nut 23 from the threaded portion on pin 24. This will permit complete separation of the parts because, in this embodiment, the pin 25 is not locked in the passageways in the upper passageway of the matching flanges 21 and 22.

V The illustrated pin assembly in the flanges permits limited separable movement of the flange faces away from each other when a vertical or longitudinal impa t from anoverlying load contacts the crosspiece. Pin 25 is shown securely fixed in flange 21 by welding or the like as at 26. The portion of the pin 25 seated in fiange Z1 is therefore closely fitted to the passageway in flange 21. The portion of the pin 25 which projects through flange 22 loosely sits in passageway or bore 27. Bore 27 is preferably tapered outwardly so the opening is greatest on the side of the flange where pin 25 projects. The pin assembly is reversed on the opposite side, that is, the pin 24- is securely fixed by welding or the like as at 29 and the portion of the pin in flange 22 is securely and closely seated within its bore. The tapered passageway 28 is in flange 21 or in the flange opposite to the one having the tapered bore 27 on top of the crosspiece. It is found that only one of the pins need be secured,

such as by the nut 23, to hold the separable portions of the crosspiece together. The principal amount of tension which holds the crosspiece together comes from coil spring 7 within the crosspiece. This spring extends across the point of separation between the parts 8 and 9. When a longitudinal impact hits or contacts the crosspiece, the flange faces on the downstream side of the crosspiece (as indicated by the direction of the arrow) tend to separate whereas the faces on the other side of the crosspiece come into close contact with each other. This separation is seen in FIGURE 3.

When a downward impact contacts or hits the crosspiece, the matched flanges on the bottom of the crosspiece tend to separate whereas the matched flanges on top of the crosspiece come into close contact with each other. This separation is seen in FIGURE 2.

The dimensions and placement of the flanges about the separable portion of the crosspiece afii'ects the amount of resistance which will be offered to either a downward or a longitudinal impact from an overlying load. It will be realized that where the flange is quare shaped, as shown in FIGURE 4, then the same amount of resistance for the matching flanges will be provided to downward or vertical displacement and downstream or longitudinal displacement of the crosspiece. The dimensions and shape of the flanges may be modified .as desired to provide varying resistance in different directions. Thus, a rectangularshaped flange, as shown in FIGURE 5, will provide greater resistance to a downward impact than to a forward or downstream impact. This results from the greater dimension being disposed above and below the crosspiece and the shorter dimensions disposed behind or upstream and in front or downstream of the crosspiece. Other variations in the dimensions of the flanges or other structures with outer configurations around the separable portion of the crosspiece may also be designed to provide further resistance of varying degree to either a downward or for-ward impact on the crosspiece.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows:

Troughing idler assemblies which comprise a portion of a wire rope sideframe conveyor are subjected to a great deal of stress and force from impact loads. When a troughing idler assembly is subject to such loads, the downward impact and longitudinal impact creates forces which could unduly cause serious damage or early breakdown. The troughing idler assembly disclosed herein reacts to such downward forces by vertical displacement, and reacts to longitudinal forces by appropriate downstream separation. The separable character of the troughing idler assembly permits it to give against an impact,

or ride with an impact whether it be downward or longitudinal.

Flanges 21, 22 are preferably matched face to face along all their dimensions. A coil spring is inserted within the hollow tube across the separable portion and anchored to bolts at desired distances within the crosspiece. Appropriate pins sit in common passageways in the top and bottom flange walls, or in any other selected position on the flange walls. The pin assemblies and the flanges are designed to permit the crosspiece to separate downwards and forwards or downstream. This is accomplished by having a tapered passageway in one flange wall on top of the crosspiece and another passageway in the other flange wall on the bottom of the crosspiece. When a load hits the troughing idler assembly, two forces or impacts will result. One force is downward to cause a vertical displacement of the crosspiece, and the other force is forward or downstream to cause a longitudinal displacement of the crosspiece. This separable crosspiece gives with the impact of the load both downwards and downstream.

Tension is provided in the crosspiece so that resistance is offered to the impacts. The tension arises from the spring 7 across the separable portion of the crosspiece.

The dimensions of the matching flanges disposed about the edges of the crosspiece at the separable portion determine the amount of separation in any particular direction. The greater the dimensions or areas of opposed flanges, the greater will be the resistance in a particular direction to an impact. Depending on the loads expected to be conveyed on the endless belt, the flanges can be relatively small on top of the crosspiece to provide moderate resistance to a downward imp-act, and can be of small dimensions on the upstream side of the crosspiece to also provide modest resistance to a longitudinal impact. correspondingly larger dimensions of the flanges will provide greater resistance.

The foregoing invention can now be practiced by those skilled in the art. Such skilled persons will know that the invention is not necessarily restricted to the particular embodiments presented herein. The scope of the invention is to be defined by the terms of the following claims as given meaning by the preceding description.

I claim:

1. A separable troughing idler assembly in a wire rope sideframe conveyor which includes, in combination,

elongated connectors to engage the side wire ropes,

a crosspiece extending to said connectors, said crosspiece being hollow in at least a portion thereof and separated at about its center,

a plurality of rollers attached to said crosspiece,

adjacent means secured to each separated part of the cross piece at the point of separation, said means being in opposed relationship and movable relative to each other over a limited range of movement to allow limited downstream and limited downward movement,

and means within the hollow portion of the crosspiece to variably urge the crosspiece against downstream and downward separation of the crosspiece.

2. The separable troughing idler assembly of claim 1 further characterized in that the means within the hollow crosspiece is a coil spring which may be extended to various lengths to proportionally urge the crosspiece against separation.

3. A separable troughing idler assembly in a wire rope sideframe conveyor, which includes, in combination,

elongated connectors to engage such wire ropes,

a hollow tube connecting said elongated connectors,

a plurality of idler rollers attached to the tube,

said tube separated at about its center,

adjacent flanges secured to each separated portion of the tube at the point of separation, the faces of said flanges being in opposed relationship and movable relative to each other over a limited range of movement to allow limited downstream and downward movement, and

a spring within the tube and across the point of separation, said spring adjustable to different lengths so as to variably urge the tube against downstream and downward separation of the tube.

4. The separable troughing idler assembly according to claim 3 further characterized in that the flanges are of equal dimensions about the tube whereby substantially equal resistance to downstream and downward impact is provided.

5. A separable troughing idler assembly as in claim 3 further characterized in that the flanges have different dimensions about the tube whereby resistance to downstream impact is ditferent from resistance to downward impact.

6. A separable troughing idler assembly in a wire rope sideframe conveyor which includes, in combination,

elongated connectors to engage the wire rope,

a tube connected to each elongated connector on one end and terminating at about the center of an idler assembly,

. the terminating edge of eachtube having outwardly 5 6 extending and matching flanges, matching portions of References Cited by the Examiner the flanges engaged in face-to-face relationship, said UNITED STATES PATENTS flanges loosely secured to each other by means positioned along the faces so as to allow downstream and 1013410 1/12 Lynch 248*160 X downward separation of the tube, 5 2974'777 3/61 Marsh 198*192 3,062,361 11/62 Arndt 198-192 an adjustable coil spring within the tube extending across the terminating portions of said tubes, and said coil springs secured to spaced means within the SAMUEL AN, Przmary Exammer, tube so as to provide varying tension against down- JULIUS E. WEST, ERNEST A. FALLER, 111.,

stream and downward separation of the tube. 10 Examiners. 

1. A SEPARABLE TROUGHING IDLER ASSEMBLY IN A WIRE ROPE SIDEFRAME CONVEYOR WHICH INCLUDES, IN COMBINATION, ELONGATED CONNECTORS TO ENGAGE THE SIDE WIRE ROPES, A CROSSPIECE EXTENDING TO SAID CONNECTORS, SAID CROSSPIECE BEING HOLLOW IN AT LEAST A PORTION THEREOF AND SEPARATED AT ABOUT ITS CENTER, A PLURALITY OF ROLLERS ATTACHED TO SAID CROSSPIECE, ADJACENT MEANS SECURED TO EACH SEPARATED PART OF THE CROSS PIECE AT THE POINT OF SEPARATION, SAID MEANS BEING IN OPPOSED RELATIONSHIP AND MOVABLE RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER OVER A LIMITED RANGE OF MOVEMENT TO ALLOW LIMITED DOWNSTREAM AND LIMITED DOWNWARD MOVEMENT, AND MEANS WITHIN THE HOLLOW PORTION OF THE CROSSPIECE TO VARIABLY URGE THE CROSSPIECE AGAINST DOWNSTREAM AND DOWNWARD SEPARATION OF THE CROSSPIECE. 